Regional banks

Revenue and earnings rose for the year as the firm reported solid growth in its wealth division.

The bank has been investing heavily in the wealth management business in terms of hiring and training staff as well as new technology.

The advisor population is “stagnant and aging;” older advisors may not relish the hassles of a moving to a new firm. Meanwhile, barriers to entry for new financial advisors remain high–less than 15% of trainees succeed in establishing a viable business.

Less than a week after announcing that it had nabbed a trio of Morgan Stanley advisors in Pennsylvania, Raymond James has added another Morgan Stanley team with more than $700,000 in production.

Three industry veterans with nearly a million in production have jumped from Morgan Stanley to Raymond James in Newtown, Pa.

Revenue and net income rose slightly from last quarter as the Morgan Keegan integration progressed.

A former Edward Jones advisor has jumped to Hilliard Lyons in Paducah, Kent.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, wealth and investment services earned $7.8 million in non-interest income for the bank, a 36% jump from a year earlier and 9% increase from the previous quarter.

U.S. Bancorp’s wealth management and securities services business contributed $41 million to the bank’s bottom line in the fourth quarter of 2012, down $2 million, or 4.7%, from the previous quarter, but unchanged from the same quarter a year earlier.

“This is the first significant change to our grid during my almost 20 year tenure at Raymond James,” Tash Elwyn, president of the firm’s Private Client Group, said. “With this new grid we have achieved our goal of continuing to offer a very competitive payout within an environment and culture at Raymond James that’s unique in that we treat our advisors with respect.”

One new aspect about the platform is that it incorporates a unified managed account structure.

Two former Scott & Stringfellow advisors with $175 million in assets have moved to Hilliard Lyons.

Financial advisor Andrew Ryan of Deutsche, who lands at number 28 on this year’s list, says that anticipating volatility while working with his venture capital and private equity clients has been imperative in recent years.

A former director of branch business development at Janney Montgomery Scott has moved to City Securities Corporation.

RBC has added a group of five former Morgan Stanley advisors with $758 million in combined assets under management.

The firm has brought on three legacy A.G. Edwards advisors from Wells Fargo to open its 27th office.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers in Congress are “very, very close” to a deal to avert $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to start at midnight.

Small and mid-sized firms look to maintain momentum from 2012 by offering more services and leveraging social media.

“My number one objective is to grow revenues from the private bank and help to make it an even greater contributor to the growth of Webster Bank,” said Daniel FitzPatrick, the new head of the business.

Barclays has brought on directors in New York and San Francisco.